National Specialty Day 7

This appears to be the unaminous position.

Back to our regular programming: Bitch Classes

Bitch Classes

6-9 month: 1 Coedwigs Cool Charm, 2 Dance with me of Yasashiikuma, 3
Xtacee the Fifth Element, 4 Annwyn Play with Fire

9-12: 1 Roragyns Silver Bells, 2 Sunkissed Pecan Valley Friday I'm in
Love, 3 Idyll Safari, 4 Bluefox's Keepsafe

12-18: 1 Kaos Rubad Wild Draw Four, 2 Rocky Ridges Star of Wonder, 3
Davenitch Someone to Watch Ovr Me, 4 Stones Throw Farm's Rite Blackberry

BBE: 1 Cornerstone Revelation at Raglan, 2 Cymbrogis Carolina
Dreaming, 3 Kimberwickes Crimson Tide, 4 Vestavia Spindrift

Am Bred: 1 Ula Mauna Ka'u Ol Kaikamahine, 2 Woodrose Covert Ops, 3
Pecan Valley And By Faith, 4. Cliffside Castle on a Cloud

Open:  1 Yasashiikuma Smoky Mountn Maid, 2 Pecan Valley Blue Bombshell, 3 Riverside Telltail Coco Posh, 4 Twinroc Telltail Hat Trick
Winners Bitch:  Open
Reserve: Open 2nd place

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We interrupt our program to bring you . . .

Spencer and his Therapy Dog ribbon.

Bitch Classes Updated

Going to try to be a bit more real time today.
Bitch Classes
6-9 month: 1 Coedwigs Cool Charm, 2 Dance with me of Yasashiikuma, 3
Xtacee the Fifth Element, 4 Annwyn Play with Fire
9-12:  1 Roragyns Silver Bells, 2 Sunkissed Pecan Valley Friday I'm in Love, 3 Idyll Safari, 4 Bluefox's Keepsafe 
12-18:  1 Kaos Rubad Wild Draw Four, 2 Rocky Ridges Star of Wonder, 3 Davenitch Someone to Watch Ovr Me, 4 Stones Throw Farm's Rite Blackberry 
BBE:  1 Cornerstone Revelation at Raglan, 2 Cymbrogis Carolina Dreaming, 3 Kimberwickes Crimson Tide, 4 Vestavia Spindrift 
Sent from my iPhone

Stud Dog and Brood Bitch

Stud Dog and Brood Bitch

Stud dog: 1 Heart of Gold Power Play, 2 Kingsburys I'm Harry P, 3
Mariel's Harvest Moon, 4 Trudy Tales About Last Night

Brood bitch: 1 Xtacee Moonlight Serenade, 2 Heart of Gold Icing, 3
Phi Vestavia Imagine Me, 4 Cliffside Crown Jewel of Avalon

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Herding Titled

Herding Titled

Dogs: 1 Rubad Harrow Brython, 2 Visions I Have a Dream, 3 Hedgerow's
Take a Chance, 4 Corwynt Tayken Crushed Ice

Bitches: 1 Corwynt Tayken Naboo, 2 Blackhills Blew by Ewe

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Megan Results

Megan Results

Red dogs: W: Woodrose All Things Considered

Brindle Dogs: W: Twinroc Santa Paws, R-up: Raconteur Perchance to
Dream

Black Dogs: W: Regent Midnight Rush, R-up: Visions I Have a Dream

Blue Dogs: W: Xtacee Dancing in the Moonlight, R-up: Turn Keys Bug Z
Segal

Red Bitches: W: Riverside Telltail Golddigger, R-up: Cardiridge Jean
Loiuse Finch

Brindle Bitches: W: Claymore's Madame Butterfly, R-up: Grangefield
Aberdovey Vanity

Black bitches: W: Xtacee Lifes a Dance, R-up: Bridgelady's Little
Freckles

Blue Bitches: W: Xtacee Moonlight Serenade, R-up: Richelu-Vestavia
Mystic Blu Pearle

Megan: brindle dog
Cadno: brindle bitch
BOS: red bitch

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Veteran Bitches

Veteran Bitches

7-9 years: 1 Cheysuli's Liquid Silver, 2 Corwynt Tayken Andromeda, 3
Blue Wag'n Maliseet, 4 Grangefield Aberdovey Lymric

9-11 years: 1 Cardach's Elisabethan Blue, 2 Ula Mauna's Panda Bear, 3
Rhys Featherstone, 4 Cornerstones's Double Diamond

11+: 1 Trailwyn Tell Me True, 2 Shadowalk Vashon Jettsetter, 3
Cardach BJ's Lucille Ball, 4 Pecan Valley Run Ruby Run

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Veteran Dogs

Veteran Dogs

7-9 years: 1 Rhys Sunday with George, 2 Grangefield Montgomery, 3
Corwynt Tayken Leo, 4 Peach's Sir John Coldstream

9-11 years: 1 Kingsburys I'm Harry P, 2. Ricochet's Mark of Zorro, 3
Kollages Bad Bad Boy, 4 Hedgerow Black Onyx

11+: 1. Phi Vestavia Neon Black, 2 Shadowalk Phi Vestavia Ikon, 3
Yardican Roland, 4 DobCarrs Bon Vivant

Sent from my iPhone

Class Dogs Results

I hope I got this right:

6-9 mo: 1 Xtacee I Am Legend, 2 Heart of Gold Derringer, 3 Harmony
McWallace I'm a Little Rock n Roll, 4 Yasashiikuma Friend of Mine

9-12 mo: 1 Rhydowen Ranger at Bridgelady, 2 Cornerstones No Intro
Needed, 3 Bluefox's Ka Boom, 4. Twinroc Buckaroo Too Hot To Handle

12 - 18 mo: 1 Octane Noteworthy Rock the Boat, 2 Rocky Ridges
Christmas Story, 3 Cornerstones Wonderful Thing, 4 Grangefield Yippee
Kai Yea

BBE: 1. Telltail Baewyn Jim Dandy, 2 Raconteur New Wave, 3 Legacy
Legends War Admiral, 4 Xtacee La Amistad

Am Bred: 1. Kollages Hot Rod Lincoln, 2 Dwysans Hot Wheels, 3
Myrddins Obsidian Knight, 4 Dragonpatch Wish You Had Me

Open: 1 XIV Karat Cherrys Jubilee, 2 Notzmo Right on Target, 3
Sandsea Only in a Fairytale, 4 Merrymoon Quincys Quiry

WD: BBE
Reserve; 6-9

Sent from my iPhone

What works with Spencer, maybe?

What a difference a day makes! After taking Scout and Lego to the vet
for a date, I got back just as the graduate novice class was about to
start.

I had Spencer's dumbbell in the car, but I had left his collar and
leash in the room, so I borrowed a collar and leash from Lani, grabbed
Spence out of the car and walked straight into the ring.

Lo and behold, I had brought in golden retreiver Spencer today. He was
spot on - his only bugaboo was that he anticipated the recall over the
jump. The judge commented in the ring that overall he worked better
than the first place dog but she had to hit me for that.

That was just fine with me - I liked the second place prize better
anyway! And I'm wondering if we have found the secret to Spencer's
success!

Seen at the Specialty

I like this one!

Spence finished his RAE3 today and had an interesting graduate novice
run. He would have had a nice qualifying score except for typical
Spencer antics.

On the "drop on recall" exercise, he is supposed to come to me on
command, and drop to a down when the judge gives me the signal. When
I gave him the command to "down", he decided to add a little flare to
it by doing this full twisting flop onto his back and rolling back to
his feet and finishing the recall with a perfect front.

By this time the crowd is hooting and I was afraid the judge was going
to pee in her pants.

I was kind of bummed because he did the rest of the exercises really
well, but someone summed it up well outside the ring. If he had done
it right, no one would ever remember it, but the stop flop and roll
will live on in infamy.

Re-thinking Double Knit

Back in the early seventies, my mom was a seamstress and made about a
million custom double knit pantsuits for her customers.

Being a child of the depression, she saved the scraps and made quilts.
I always thought they were the most hideous things possible.

While I was cleaning out her house, I came across a pile of them, and
I saw them in a new light. They are actually quite charming in their
tackiness.

And, being made of the most indestructible material on earth, I
thought they would make fabulous dog bed covers!

But before I recycle them, I am putting them to use here at the
Specialty as bedspreads. You see, the hotel has taken their bedspreads
from all dog rooms. Looks like Spencer approves!

A Parallel Universe

Most Sunday mornings we head out early to go to the Chickamauga
Battlefield for tracking practice. It gave me a bit of a shiver this
morning as I drove through the Gettysburg battlefield on our way to
the CWCCA tracking trial.

No cardis q'd in the TD test. This red fellow is about to start his
TDX test.

So, who is the boy?

I guess some of you might think that I have been teasing a bit, but things have been busy around here lately. Lots of work commitments to put to bed before heading out of town for a week and lots of tasks trying to get my mom's house on the market this week as well have been consuming my time. Then, just to make things interesting, Miss Scout goes into season. Of course, I can't say that she surprised me with that; she came in exactly six months after her last season.

This is my first time at breeding. I live by the immortal words of Prissy in Gone With the Wind, "Lawzy, we got to have a doctor. I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!" So, I have been spending a good bit of time reading and asking questions. I made an appointment with my vet a couple of months ago and we had a great discussion and made plans.   I went to a seminar by Myra Savant Harris and read her books.  On her suggestion I ordered this and this (more on this later - it worked!).

And I've spent more money too:  I've bought puppy toys and ordered a fabulous whelping box.   

OK, everything covered right?  Oops, there's one more thing we need - a baby daddy.  I have studied Scout's pedigree and looked at a jillion pictures and pedigrees of other cardis.  I've studied color charts.  I've run health tests and dna tests on Scout and researched test results of potential suitors.

Under my agreement with Scout's breeder, she had the right to pick the stud dog of the first breeding.  Our contract does not require me to breed her, so basically we just both had to agree on who to use.  We have spent hours on the phone discussing the pros and cons of dozens of potentials.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, we looked all over the world and ended up with one who for all intents and purposes is the boy next door:

This handsome fellow is CH Grangefield Lyberty's Legacy, known as Lego and owned by Laura Prosser. Lego is OFA Good, PRA clear, and fluff-free (a plus since Scout is a carrier.) And since he is a brindle pointed tri, we have the chance to get a rainbow of colors in the whelping box. Here is his pedigree.

So - we have started on a journey which will hopefully bring us healthy puppies in late June.  Please help us with the chant Jeri successfully used on Lizzie - "easy whelp, healthy puppies!"

Deja vu all over again

I finally got around to getting the first pedicure of spring today, and afterwards I stopped by Sonic for big diet coke with lime. I looked up and this is what I saw:

Look familar? Check out this post from December 2008. It is the same car!

There's not quite as much junk in it. Maybe she has been going through same cleaning out I have been - on two fronts in my case. I am trying to get my mom's house ready to go on the market, and over the last couple of months we have been packing up and throwing away. My mom was never one to a cluttered house, but I had no idea how much she had hidden away in closets and chests.

On the other hand, I knew that I had a ton of unnecessary junk in my house. I have more house than I need, and I have accumulated way too much stuff. I always feel a little uncomfortable when I catch an episode of one of those hoarder shows - does anyone else immediately get the urge to get up and clean something when those come on?

I decided that I too needed a cleaning out, so I put a POD in the driveway, and I have been moving Mom's and my junk into the pod, and in a few weeks I plan to have the mother of yard sales right out of the pod.

Yesterday, I finally got everything out of mom's house, except for the furniture we are leaving to show the house. What a relief! I can't wait to finish my clean out too, which I will celebrate by turning the basement into living space instead of clutter space.

Hanging out . . .

At vet's office, waiting on results of progesterone test.

Guess who got kicked out of doggie daycare today?

Don't worry - no one was misbehaving.  But when it's "that time" that rolls around every six months or so for special girls, the nice folks at doggie day care kindly ask the owner to leave the girl at home.

So  - we start counting days . . . .

Enjoy the day!

Spence sez, "Sorry lady. Not today. I don't work under these conditions."

Well - no chance for a Graduate Novice new title ribbon for Spence at the Specialty. We went to an outside trial today (strike one), on the hottest day so far this year (strike two), ring time at high noon (strike three, and we're out.)

After pulling him around the ring on the on leash heeling pattern, he sat nicely while I walked a figure 8 pattern by myself around the ring stewards. The next exercise was the drop on recall. When I called him to me, he started walking very slowly towards me (think dead man walking.) When he finally got about half way to me, the judge gave me the signal to down him. Instead, he hiked his leg and did the boy thing on the stanchion.

At that point, frankly I was glad he did. In Agility, when your dog is having a day like this, you can just wave at the judge and say "thanks" and call it a day. Can't do that in obedience - you are stuck in the ring until the bitter end - either you finish all the exercises or the judge excuses you.

Oh well - it was a great day to be outside - and on the way home we stopped to visit a lovely sustainable planned community called Serenbe.  My real purpose was to see a version of my dream house which was built there on spec.  We had a nice lunch at the community bakery and then finally found it and found it open for inspection!  Headed out shortly to buy a lottery ticket!